News & analysis of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, by Matthew Stiegler

Court rejects effort to appeal same-sex marriage ruling

When PA Governor Corbett decided not to appeal a district-court ruling striking down the state’s same-sex-marriage ban, it looked like CA3 would be shut out of the historic legal fight over same-sex-marriage.

But not entirely–yesterday the court got to decide a minor related issue. When the Governor chose not to appeal, a county clerk responsible for issuing marriage licenses sought to intervene to appeal. The district court denied the motion, reasoning that the clerk was bound by his ruling and lacked standing to appeal it.

In a two-sentence order, CA3 summarily affirmed for essentially the reasons given by the district court. The order was signed by Shwartz, with Fuentes and Jordan also on the panel.

Brown v. Board it ain’t. But the clerk reportedly has vowed to seek Supreme Court review, so maybe CA3 will get its chance yet.

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I’m amused to find I have a personal link to one of the litigants in the underlying suit. One of the defendants was the clerk of court for Bucks County, PA, Donald Petrilli. (When the suit was filed, Petrilli reportedly offered a “spirited and controversial defense of traditional marriage,” arguing that marriage is grounded in “biological fact that opposite-sex couples reproduce.”) Don was a best friend of mine in eighth grade. In Mr. Richter’s social studies class, I was the self-appointed defender of liberalism, Don the reliable voice of conservatism. I’m glad he lost this round.